The gathering of downhole information has been done by the oil industry for many years. Modern petroleum drilling and production operations demand a great quantity of information relating to the parameters and conditions downhole. Such information typically includes the location and orientation of the borehole and drilling assembly, earth formation properties, and drilling environment parameters downhole. The collection of information relating to formation properties and conditions downhole is commonly referred to as “logging”, and can be performed during the drilling process itself.
Various measurement tools exist for use in wireline logging and logging while drilling. One such tool is the resistivity tool, which includes one or more antennas for transmitting an electromagnetic signal into the formation and one or more antennas for receiving a formation response. When operated at low frequencies, the resistivity tool may be called an “induction” tool, and at high frequencies it may be called an electromagnetic wave propagation tool. Though the physical phenomena that dominate the measurement may vary with frequency, the operating principles for the tool are consistent. In some cases, the amplitude and/or the phase of the receive signals are compared to the amplitude and/or phase of the transmit signals to measure the formation resistivity. In other cases, the amplitude and/or phase of the receive signals are compared to each other to measure the formation resistivity.
When plotted as a function of depth or tool position in the borehole, the resistivity tool measurements are termed “logs” or “resistivity logs”. Such logs may provide indications of hydrocarbon concentrations and other information useful to drillers and completion engineers. In particular, azimuthally-sensitive logs may provide information useful for steering the drilling assembly. However, there exist limitations on the size and length of the drilling assembly which may limit the number of logging tools that can be included, and hence may limit the types of measurements that can be logged.
While the described embodiments are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific examples thereof are shown for illustrative purposes and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the claims to the particular examples described, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
Notation and Nomenclature
Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims to refer to particular system components and configurations. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, companies may refer to a component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function. In the following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to . . . ”. Also, the term “couple” or “couples” is intended to mean either an indirect or a direct electrical connection. Thus, if a first device couples to a second device, that connection may be through a direct electrical connection, or through an indirect electrical connection via other devices and connections. In addition, the term “attached” is intended to mean either an indirect or a direct physical connection. Thus, if a first device attaches to a second device, that connection may be through a direct physical connection, or through an indirect physical connection via other devices and connections.